Friday, September 11, 2009

Where were you? 9.11.01

Wow, 8 whole years... that horrible day seems like a million years ago, yet like yesterday. Mr. Fix-It and I were living in Lawrence, KS.... we were young kiddos without many worries. But that day changed everything. For everyone.

The news traveled around the office like wild fire... TVs were set up in conference rooms, the cafeteria, the auditorium... everyone left early. I didn't have enough gas for my commute home - I waited in line for over 30 min to get gas, at what was normally a quiet, slow gas station. That day was so scary, so sad.... I couldn't - and still can't - imagine the pain those families felt. I still got choked up this morning, watching a quick recap on the news as I headed off to work...

Two weeks afterwards, Mr. Fix-It and I flew out to Vegas for a vacation. Everyone on the plane was freaked out. Probably a third of the travellers had cancelled their trips. We got to Vegas and the casino floors were quiet, the pools were half empty.

But in the midst of all the bad, came something good for our family.... in the middle of one of our favorite places (the Strip in Vegas!), Mr. Fix-It proposed (at the top of the Eiffel Tower at Paris Paris - it was sooo sweet!) With all the chaos in the world, it helped to be joined, to have that support and safety.

They did a story on the news tonight about HS seniors and how 9-11 shaped their lives. They were only 9 or 10 yrs old back then! Where were you on that day?

5 comments:

I was teaching high school and about 6 weeks pregnant with my daughter Grace. It was a crazy day with all of us in the school trying to find out what happened. All the news websites were "frozen" from too many hits, and we couldn't get tv reception in the school. My husband was offshore on a boat with no internet or phone. He wasn't able to call me until a few days later.

Love this post Elaine!I was young! Only 21, lived in an apartment with my husband ( then boyfriend )and he had already gone to work and I was actually woken up by the news on the TV, when normally it would have been an old rerun because I always left the TV on Nick at Nite when I slept. It startled me awake and I was really confused at first, not understanding what was going on. Once I started to piece it all together I panicked and jumped out of bed and grabbed the phone. First person I called was my Mom and she was in tears and then I started crying as well. I was really scared.Later that day I did go into work, but the entire city was a ghost town. I needed a Starbucks and drove to the one near my office and it was closed! I couldn't work, nobody could, we just stayed and watched the news together and then I went home early with a pit in my stomach. Remember it like it was yesterday!!

What a sweet story in the middle of all that chaos! I was driving to work really early that morning, and remember hearing the initial reports on the radio, when nobody had ANY idea what was actually going on...the DJs were going "Huh, we just heard a plane crashed into the Pentagon" but everyone thought it was an isolated problem...what a nightmare. Mr. Perfect was out of the country. Awful all around.

I was a freshman in college. Classes were dismissed with no explanation. I walked back to the dorm and into the great room to find half the residents gathered around the big screen TV in silence. Very moving.

About Me

I'm Elaine - just your average mom with 3!! sweet kids and an amazing husband... who works full time but still wants to be the creative, crafty mom who pulls off the best birthday parties, coolest class projects, and bakes cupcakes for school. Only I can't commute to my demanding job, run the house and family, and do all these things, so I fake it - a little creativity can go a long way. That's why we live a Semi Homemade Life...